Am.  Joiir.  Pharni.  ) 
Aug.,  1881.  .  j 
Aspidium  Rigidum. 
389 
ASPIDIUM  lilGIDUM. 
By  William  J.  Bowman,  Ppi.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
This  fern  is  indigenous  to  the  Pacific  coast,  where  it  is  found  in 
rocky  canons  and  on  hill-sides.  It  is  confined  principally  to  the  east- 
•ern  slope  of  the  coast  range,  extending  northward  to  Oregon  and  south- 
ward to  Mexico.  The  following  description  of  the  plant  is  given  by 
Professor  Eaton:  Root-stock  short,  stout,  ascending  or  erect;  fronds 
'in  a  crown,  on  chaffy  stalks,  half  evergreen,  firm-membranaceous, 
smooth  and  green  above,  paler  and  more  or  less  glandular  beneath, 
1  to  3  feet  high,  ovate-lanceolate  or  triangular-lanceolate,  usually  fully 
bipinnate;  pinnae  broadly  oblong-lanceolate,  the  lowest  ones  broadest 
:and  scarcely  shorter  than  the  middle  ones  ;  pinnules  oblong,  incised  or 
'doubly  serrate,  with  spinulose  teeth,  conspicuously  veiny ;  sori  large, 
nearer  the  mid-rib  than  the  margin  ;  indusia  firm,  convex,  orbicular, 
-with  a  very  narrow  sinus,  the  edge  bearing  short-stalked  glands." 
The  rhizomes  which  I  have  seen  are  from  4  to  10  inches  in  length, 
•closely  covered  with  the  remnants  of  stipes,  and  with  these  from  an 
inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  thick.  They  are  covered  with  a  brown 
'chafF,  and  densely  beset  with  wiry  rootlets.  The  rhizomes  deprived  of 
the  stipes  are  from  one-half  to  nearly  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  show, 
iupon  the  transverse  section,  an  arrangement  very  similar  to  that  of 
Filix  mas.,  the  main  difference  being  that  the  vascular  bundles,  found 
in  a  circle,  are  about  six  in  number.  It  has  a  peculiar  aromatic  odor 
and  a  sweetish  taste,  which  becomes  acrid,  bitter  and  astringent. 
This  California  fern  has  as  yet  established  only  a  local  reputation  as 
.a  medicinal  agent,  but,  judging  from  the  verdict  of  several  physicians 
who  have  employed  the  drug,  it  deserves  a  more  extended  use.  Prof. 
H.  Behr,  of  San  Francisco,  has  long  used  the  Aspidium  rigidum  in 
liis  practice  in  the  treatment  of  taenia,  and  with  better  results  than  he 
has  been  able  to  obtain  from  any  other  vermifuge.  In  1863  he  called 
the  attention  of  the  late  Dr.  J.  B.  Trask  to  its  medicinal  value,  and 
for  many  years  the  doctor  used  it  in  his  practice,  and  with  such  good 
results  that  he  considered  it  a  specific  in  the  treatment  for  tape-worm. 
Prof.  Behr  employed  the  fresh  rhizome,  which  he  found  more  effec- 
tual than  the  dried.  The  fact  of  its  having  been  used  in  the  fresh 
state  may^  in  some  degree,  account  for  the  superior  effects  obtained 
from  it. 
